ElevationLeg 3: 2001 North America

Show Day: London Earls Court, Show Three

21 August 2001

Show Day: London Earls Court, Show Three

Bono's Dad died this morning. It's been such a long road for them all and finally, peacefully he passed away in the early hours. Word soon followed that Bono didn't want to cancel tonight's show and all would go ahead as planned.

For reasons no-one has ever made clear, there's a universally acknowledged assumption that "the show must go on" which of course it did, though the audience was far from unaware of Bono's bereavement. He spoke about it a little, in a few characteristically oblique tributes to the late Bob Hewson, and dedicated 'Kite' to him as he has done these past few nights. The show rocked the house and amid the noise there lingered a palpable poignancy - 'Bad', 'Gone', 'One' - emotion was running at eleven and I think somewhere in there Bono found some consolation.